Variable film-width microfilm trimmer

ABSTRACT

An adjustable trimmer for stripping off the unused edge portions from film strips containing microfilm images of any one of several different widths, for use in making microfiche. The trimmer employs a center cutter roll having the desired width of the microfiche strips, and being removably mounted on one shaft; and a pair of opposed cutter wheels, mounted on a second, parallel shaft, and being spring-biased toward and in cutting engagement with the center cutter roll. One of the cutter wheels is retractable, whereby the center cutter roll can be removed and replaced with another cutter roll of a different, desired width.

United States Patent Griswold et a1.

[54] VARIABLE FILM-WIDTH MICROFILM TRIMMER [72] Inventors: Augustus W.Griswold, Rochester; Boris W. Haritonoff, Geneseo, both of NY.

[73] Assignee: Keystone Micro-Scan, Inc., Boston,

Mass.

{22] Filed: Sept. 23, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 74,639

[52] US. Cl. ..83/481, 83/502, 83/666 [51] Int. Cl. ..B23d 19/00 [58]Field of Search ..83/479-482, 500-503, 83/666 [56] References CitedUNITED STATES PATENTS 1,325,578 12/1919 Putt ..83/502 X 2,659,43611/1953 Datro .....83/482 1 Oct. 17,1972

823,797 6/1906 Lupton ..83/501 X 2,251,313 8/1941 Yoder ..83/4813,173,326 3/1965 Gulliksen ..83/501 Primary Examiner-Andrew R. JuhaszAssistant Examiner-David R. Meiton Attorney-Willis M. Ertman 5 7ABSTRACT An adjustable trimmer for stripping off the unused edgeportions from film strips containing microfilm images of any one ofseveral different widths, for use in making microfiche. The trimmeremploys a center cutter roll having the desired width of the microfichestrips, and being removably mounted on one shaft; and a pair of opposedcutter wheels, mounted on a second, parallel shaft, and beingspring-biased toward and in cutting engagement with the center cutterroll. One of the cutter wheels is retractable, whereby the center cutterr011 can be removed and replaced with another cutter roll of adifferent, desired width.

5 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures PATENTEDncr 11 I972 SHEET 1 BF 2 INVENTORSAUGUSTUS w GRISWOLD BORIS w. HARITONOFF Km Y-M ATTORNEYS PATENTEDHBT 17I972 SHEET 2 0F 2 N OE I NVENTORS AUGUSTUS W. GRISWOLD BY BORIS WHARITONOFF XW v BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1 Field of the Invention Thepresent invention relates to the slitting of film and in a preferredembodiment to a variable film-width microfilm trimmer for producingmicrofiche.

2. Description of the Prior Art The replacement of one cutterwithanother identical cutter is known for use when the cutting edges of thefirst cutter have become dulled. It is also known to use two differenttrimmers to trim to two different widths.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus whichcan be easily changed to trim, from either 16 mm. or 35 mm. microfilm,to any one of a plurality of different microfilm image widths.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The trimmer of the present invention comprisesthree separate roll cutters, two outer cutters being on a first shaftand a center cutter being on a second, parallel shaft. The width of thecenter cutter determines the width to which the film is trimmed. The twoouter cutters are biased into contact with the center cutter, one outercutter is retractable and can be manually pulled out against a springbias, and the center cutter can be removed from its shaft and replacedwith a different center cutter having a different width, after which theretracted roll cutter is allowed to return to its original cuttingposition. The center roll cutter includes an extension of a particularlength that abuts a shoulder accurately located on the second shaft, toaccurately align the trimmer with respect to the film strip passingthrough the trimmer. The distance between the lateral center of eachcenter roll cutter and the end of the extension is the same for all ofthe different-width, center roll cutters.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The present invention will be morefully understood by reference to the following detailed descriptionthereof, when read in conjunction with the attached drawings, whereinlike reference numerals refer to like elements, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a partly schematic front elevation view of the apparatus ofthe present invention; and

FIG. 2 is a partly cross-sectional profile view through the trimmingapparatus of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT With reference now tothe drawings, FIG. 1 shows a preferred overall configuration in which atrimmer of the present invention is used. FIG. 1 is a front elevationview of a trimmer unit 12 comprising a housing 14, a supply reel 16 ofmicrofilm 17 (either 16 mm. or 35 mm.), a take-up reel 18, a guide 20,and the trimmer 10. Both 16 mm. or 35 mm. microfilm reels fit on theunit 12, and the trimmer 10 can trim both 16 mm. and 35 mm. film to anydesired width for use in making microfiche, for example, 9 mm., l2.5mm., and 16.5 mm. are presently preferred widths. The guide 20 isreversible and has a 16 mm. groove in one side thereof, a 35 mm. groovein the other side thereof, and a pair of tongues 22 and 24, one tongueextending from each end of the guide 20, respectively. The tongues 22and 24 are positioned between the two grooves, and the groove to be usedin placed lowermost, as is shown in FIG. 1, so that the tongues 22 and24 are above the microfilm strip 17. The tongue24 adjacent the trimmer10 extends past the trimmer .10 to prevent the trimmed microfilm strip25 from tending to curl up around the trimmer 10 and also to guide themicrofilm strip 17 in a fiat configuration through the trimmer l0 (andparticularly when the strip 17 is between a pair of cutter wheels 30 and32, described below) thereby maintaining constant width of thetrimmedmicrofilm strip 25. There is a tendency for the strip 17 tobuckle up orcurve up laterally between the cutter wheels 30 and 32 when the cuttingedges of the trimmer 10 have become dulled. Other means than the tongue24 can be used to prevent the strip 17 from buckling or curving upbetween the wheels 30 and 32. A deflector plate 26. is positioned asshown in FIG. 1 to direct the two trimmed-off edges 27 of the microfilmstrip 17 downwardly away from the take-up reel 18.

Reference will now be had to FIG. 2 showing the details of the trimmer10 itself. The trimmer 10 comprises a pair of opposed, spaced-apart,cutter wheels 30 and 32 and a center cutter roll 34. The cutter wheels30 and 32 are both loosely mounted on an uppershaft 36. The shaft 36 hasa longitudinal groove (not shown) on its surface and each of the cutterwheels 30 and 32 is made to rotate with the shaft 36 by means of a dogpoint set screw (not shown) inserted through each of the wheels 30 and32 and into the: groove. The wheels 30 and 32 are freely movable axiallyalong the shaft 36 and the wheels 30 and 32 also have a certain amountof rotational play about the shaft 36, however, rotation of the shaft 36forces each cutter wheel 30 and 32 to rotate. The cutter roll 34 ismounted on a lower shaft 38 parallel to the upper shaft 36. The cutterroll 34 is slidably mounted on the lower shaft 38, and is caused torotate with shaft 38 by means of a pin or key 41 extending from thesurface of the shaft 38, which key fits in a slot or groove 43 in theinternal bore of the cutter roll 34.

The trimmer 10 is aligned with the guide 20 as follows: the cutter roll34 is positioned so that the axial center of a cylindrical cuttingportion 39 of the cutter roll 34 is in-line with the axis of the guide20, by accurately locating a shoulder 40 on the lower shaft 38 apredetermined distance from the axis of the guide 20, and by providingthe cutter roll 34 with an axial extension 42 projecting from one end ofthe cutting portion 39, such that the distance between the lateralcenter of the cutting portion 39 of the cutter roll 34 and an outer edge44 of the extension 42 (this distance is labelled x in FIG. 2), is equalto said predetermined distance, regardless of what width cutting portion39 is used. The shoulder 40 is preferably simply the end of one of apair of locking nuts 46 and 48, threadingly connected to the lower shaft38, so that the location of the shoulder 40 can be adjusted, ifnecessary. A thumbscrew 50 screws into a threaded hole in the end of thelower shaft 38 and contacts another axial extension 52 of the cutterroll 34 to hold the cutter roll 34 in place between the thumbscrew 50and the shoulder 40. The extension 52 and to form the cutting cylinder39 from the lateral center thereof and to make the extensions 42 and 52of smaller outside diameter than that of the cutting portion 39.Extensions 42 and 52 have the same length so that the cutter roll 34 canbe assembled without specific orientation.

The axially movable or slidable cutter wheels 30 and 32 arespring-biased into contact with the cutter roll 34. A cutting edge 54 ofthe cutting wheel 32 is urged into cutting contact with a cutting edge56 of the'cutter roll 34 by a spring 58. Similarly, a cutting edge 60 ofthe cutting wheel 30 is urged into cutting contact with a cutting edge62 of the cutter roll 34 by a spring 64.

A knob 66 is affixed to the end of the upper shaft 36; the knob 66 ismanually grasped, when it is desired to change cutter rolls 34, and ispulled outwardly, thus retracting the upper shaft 36 as well as theouter cutter wheel 30. After the cutter wheel 30 is retracted asufficient distance, the thumbscrew 50 is removed, the cutter roll 34removed, a different cutter wheel 34 having a cutting cylinder '39 ofthe desired width is placed on the lower shaft 38, the thumbscrew 50replaced, and then the knob 66 and the outer cutter wheel 30 are allowedto return to their normal position. When unscrewing the thumbscrew 50,the spring 58 forces the inner cutter wheel 32 outwardly, however, itsoutward movement stops when wheel 32 abuts the tongue 24.

The apparatus for rotating the cutter wheels 30 and 32 and the cutterroll 34, and the apparatus rotatably supporting the shafts 36 and 38form no part of the present invention; the nature of such apparatus iswell known to one skilled in the art, and therefore need not bedescribed in great detail. Briefly, the unit 12 includes a pair ofvertical support plates 68 and 70 with bearings mounted therein forsupporting the shafts 36 and 38. A motor (not shown) is drivinglyconnected to one of the shafts 36 and 38, and the other shaft is causedto turn by means of a pair of meshing gears 71 and 73 connected to theshafts 36 and 38, respectively. The spring 58 is located between astationary bearing 72 and the slidable cutter wheel 32, and the spring64 is located between a stationary bearing 74 and a ring 76 fixed to theupper shaft 36.

While the present invention has been described in detail with respect tothe preferred embodiment thereof, the invention can be used for slittingany types of strips for any purpose. Further, other structures can beemployed to remove at least one of the two opposed cutter wheels fromcutting contact with the cutter roll, whereby the cutter roll can bereplaced with another cutter roll of different width. Instead of havingthe center cutter roll 34 fixed to its shaft 38, it could be axiallyslidably mounted thereon as are the cutter wheels 30 and 32 whereby onlyone of the springs 58 and 64 would be needed to urge all three rollcutters into cutting engagement, however, this arrangement would notprovide the precision alignment of the above described preferredembodiment.

The invention has been described in detail with particular reference topreferred embodiment thereof, but it will be understood that variationsand modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of theinvention as described hereinabove and as defined in the appendedclaims.

We claim: 1. An adjustable width trimmer comprising:

c. means for disengaging at least a portion of said first cutting meansfrom cutting engagement with said second cutting means;

d. said second cutting means being removable from said trimmer when saidportion of said first cutting means is disengaged, whereby said secondcutting means can be replaced by a cutting means having a differentwidth from that of said second cutting means for adjusting said trimmerto trim a strip to said different width;

c. said second cutting means being a cutter roll having a cylindricalcutting portion having a pair of opposed cutting edges;

f. said first cutting means comprising a pair of cutting wheels, oneeach of said cutting wheels being spring-biased into cutting engagementwith one each of said cutting edges of said cutter roll;

g. said cutter wheels being slidably mounted on a first shaft and saidcutter roll being removably mounted on a second shaft parallel to saidfirst shaft;

h. a knob connected to said first shaft, said first shaft beingspring-biased to force said knob into contact with one of said pair ofcutter wheels and to force said one cutter wheel into engagement withsaid cutter roll; said first shaft, said one cutter wheel and said knoball being simultaneously, manually retractable against said spring-biasto disengage said one cutter wheel from said cutter roll a sufficientdistance therefrom whereby said cutter roll can be removed from saidsecond shaft and replaced with a different cutter roll;

i. means removably holding said cutter roll onto said second shaft; and

j. said cutter roll including a lateral extension pro jecting from oneend of said cylindrical cutting portion, said extension being of smalleroutside diameter than that of said cutting portion, and the distancebetween the axial center of said cutting portion and the outer end ofsaid extension being a predetermined distance, and a shoulder positionedon said second shaft for engagement by said outer end of said extension.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 including adjustment means foradjusting the axial location of said shoulder on said second shaft.

3. (The apparatus according to claim 10 wherein) An adjustable widthmicrofilm trimmer comprising:

a. a center cutting roll including a cylindrical cutting roll having apair of spaced-apart cutting edge;

b. a pair of cutter wheels, one each of said wheels being in cuttingengagement with one each of said cutting edges of said cutter roll,whereby the width of said cutting roll determines the width to which astrip of microfilm will be trimmed;

c. means for disengaging at least one of said cutter wheels from saidcutter roll, whereby said cutter roll can be removed and replaced with adifferent center cutter roll;

. said pair of opposed cutter wheels being mounted on a first shaft, andsaid center cutter roll being removably mounted on a second shaftparallel to and spaced from said first shaft, and means for biasing saidcutter wheels and said center cutter roll into cutting engagement witheach other; and

. said second shaft (includes) including a shoulder;

said center cutter roll (includes) including an axial extensionprojecting from one end of said cylindrical cutting portion and havingan outside diameter smaller than that of said cutting portion, an outerend of said extension abutting against said

1. An adjustable width trimmer comprising: a. first and second cuttingmeans for trimming a strip down to a predetermined width; b. meansbiasing said first and second cutting means into cutting engagement witheach other, said second cutting means having said predetermined width towhich said strip is to be trimmed; c. means for disengaging at least aportion of said first cutting means from cutting engagement with saidsecond cutting means; d. said second cutting means being removable fromsaid trimmer when said portion of said first cutting means isdisengaged, whereby said second cutting means can be replaced by acutting means having a different width from that of said second cuttingmeans for adjusting said trimmer to trim a strip to said differentwidth; e. said second cutTing means being a cutter roll having acylindrical cutting portion having a pair of opposed cutting edges; f.said first cutting means comprising a pair of cutting wheels, one eachof said cutting wheels being spring-biased into cutting engagement withone each of said cutting edges of said cutter roll; g. said cutterwheels being slidably mounted on a first shaft and said cutter rollbeing removably mounted on a second shaft parallel to said first shaft;h. a knob connected to said first shaft, said first shaft beingspring-biased to force said knob into contact with one of said pair ofcutter wheels and to force said one cutter wheel into engagement withsaid cutter roll; said first shaft, said one cutter wheel and said knoball being simultaneously, manually retractable against said spring-biasto disengage said one cutter wheel from said cutter roll a sufficientdistance therefrom whereby said cutter roll can be removed from saidsecond shaft and replaced with a different cutter roll; i. meansremovably holding said cutter roll onto said second shaft; and j. saidcutter roll including a lateral extension projecting from one end ofsaid cylindrical cutting portion, said extension being of smalleroutside diameter than that of said cutting portion, and the distancebetween the axial center of said cutting portion and the outer end ofsaid extension being a predetermined distance, and a shoulder positionedon said second shaft for engagement by said outer end of said extension.2. The apparatus according to claim 1 including adjustment means foradjusting the axial location of said shoulder on said second shaft. 3.An adjustable width microfilm trimmer comprising: a. a center cuttingroll including a cylindrical cutting roll having a pair of spaced-apartcutting edges; b. a pair of cutter wheels, one each of said wheels beingin cutting engagement with one each of said cutting edges of said cutterroll, whereby the width of said cutting roll determines the width towhich a strip of microfilm will be trimmed; c. means for disengaging atleast one of said cutter wheels from said cutter roll, whereby saidcutter roll can be removed and replaced with a different center cutterroll; d. said pair of opposed cutter wheels being mounted on a firstshaft, and said center cutter roll being removably mounted on a secondshaft parallel to and spaced from said first shaft, and means forbiasing said cutter wheels and said center cutter roll into cuttingengagement with each other; and e. said second shaft including ashoulder; said center cutter roll including an axial extensionprojecting from one end of said cylindrical cutting portion and havingan outside diameter smaller than that of said cutting portion, an outerend of said extension abutting against said shoulder, and wherein thedistance between the lateral center of said cutting portion and saidouter end of said extension is a predetermined distance.
 4. Theapparatus according to claim 3 wherein said biasing means includes apair of springs, one each of said spring biasing one each of said cutterwheels toward said center cutter roll.
 5. The apparatus according toclaim 3 including means for coupling said shafts together for rotation.